Realtor planning new 3-story office building for downtown Naperville

A three-story office building has been proposed for the northwest corner of Main Street and Aurora Avenue in downtown Naperville.

Two vacant structures would be torn down to make way for the 24,850-square-foot building anchored by john greene Realtor and john greene Commercial. The tenants filling the remaining space have yet to be determined.

“We’ve been (an) established part of the Naperville community for 50 years, and during that time we’ve really helped families find homes, we’ve worked alongside local businesses and we have grown right alongside Naperville. So this project was really the next chapter of that story,” said Kristine Noren, vice president of operations for john greene Real Estate.

The company has owned the property at 115 Aurora Ave. since 2020 and is currently under contract to purchase the property at 405 S. Main St., Noren said. A little more than a half-acre in size, the site is surrounded by the Water Street District to the north, a dental office and housing to the south, a financial services office to the west and Walgreens to the east.

Architecture for the project is inspired by downtown Naperville and the adjacent Water Street District, featuring “traditional brick masonry with contemporary detailing and large windows designed to complement surrounding downtown buildings,” according to a news release.

The third floor will have an enclosed terrace that will open to a rooftop deck. On-site parking for 25 vehicles is planned at the rear of the building, accessible from a public alley.

As part of the proposal, john greene Real Estate is requesting to rezone the properties at 115 Aurora Ave. and 405 S. Main St. from single-family and low-density, multifamily residential use to transitional use, a zoning category meant to serve as a buffer between busy commercial areas and residential neighborhoods.

The company is also requesting multiple variances, including one to allow the building to not be residentially styled and another to permit parking spaces within five feet of a public alley.

There is also a request for the building to be 43.8 feet in height instead of the transitional use district’s allowed 35 feet. To minimize the building’s perceived height from the street, the third-floor rooftop terrace would be stepped back.

The company has offices in Naperville and in surrounding suburbs, including North Aurora, Plainfield and Oswego. This new development is meant to complement those existing offices. Noren said that since the company got its start in Naperville, a new office building in the city’s downtown made sense.

“It’s the heart of the community, it’s where people gather, it’s where the businesses thrive, it’s where so much of the character comes from,” she said. “So, as we looked at the future of our company, we felt like (downtown Naperville) was the right place to make that long-term investment.”

If approved, it would be one of the latest development projects in the city’s downtown. In May, Ellsworth Partners announced plans to introduce new restaurant and retail tenants to the Beidelman Furniture building after the 165-year-old Beidelman Furniture Store closed in April.

In March, the Naperville City Council approved a six-unit, multifamily residential development for 222 S. Mill St. Prior to that, 11 rowhomes were approved for Benton Avenue and Main Street, which sits at the northern edge of the city’s downtown.

Notably, some of the properties that surround the site of the proposed office building have been subject to major changes in recent years. In 2015, construction for a $93.1 million Water Street District redevelopment project was approved, bringing new restaurant, retail and office development to the city’s downtown.

A deal is in the works for the Walgreens site located east of the office project. Currently, that property is advertised for mixed-use redevelopment, which could include a combination of housing, retail and restaurant use.

“It’s an area of the downtown that serves as the gateway,” Noren said. “We’ve seen a lot of investment in that area, so we felt like it was a very well-located site for our building, and in designing the building, we wanted a building that felt like it really belonged in that area and in downtown Naperville.”

The case is scheduled for review July 15 by the city Planning and Zoning Commission.